Auto or manual trans? And why did you choose it?
Have your previous cars had manuals or autos?
Auto or manual trans? And why did you choose it?
Have your previous cars had manuals or autos?
Good poll question! OK, my vote doesn't count (pre-Aveo)...
But I voted anyway. I always pick manual transmission when I have the choice. I've had maybe 25 or 30 cars, and only 2 have been automatics, one being my first car (land yacht 1964 Pontiac Catalina 389 V8 ), the 2nd didn't have a manual option.
Voted Auto since my current 2010 is, but my previous 2004 was manual. Driving a stick shift is definitely a dying art in North America.
Yeah, only something like 6 or 7% of new cars in the U.S. are manuals now.
I have owned four cars in my life, all manuals. The next one I am getting is going to be an automatic for a boat towing SUV. Been looking for four wheel drive. An automatic makes sense there. I am inline for an Elio Elio Motors | The next big thing in transportation! and I plan to get the manual there too.
I absolutely love manual, i owned one vehicle that was auto and that got swapped to a manual.
I've owned 13 cars/trucks over the years. Of those, 5 have been automatics and 8 were manual trans.
I voted auto however I wish my current car was a manual. I have owned a few in the past and love to drive them. When I got my car it was the only one on the lot so I got stuck with an auto
I have bought/titled over 150 cars not including flips for other people. My wife hates that, calls it Car ADHD. If the car was strictly for me, or my enjoyment, it was always manual. If I was going to share with the wife who can't drive a stick, or it was a really good deal, or something along those lines I would buy an auto. The only car I bought that was not manual and strictly or me: 09 F150. Not available in a manual with sucked, I only had it 6 months. I replaced it with a 4.0 ranger with a stick, (for sale).
If I include cars I bought and never titled in my own name.. as in I buy a car and build it for a purchaser, I think I might be 300+ ?
I have seen that done with the SRT... I did a auto to manual swap in a few VWs, I think it could be done fairly easily in an Aveo. But you would need enough parts to have to buy a donor car. And my refusal to do some of the "hacks" that people do to make auto to manual swaps work with less effort (like leave the car thinking it is in neutral and put the neutral safety switch on the clutch pedal, instead of wiring up the manual harness).
I have an auto, but previously had a 5 speed blue aveo. Three weeks ago my son hit a deer. I bought the first car I saw for the same money. It happened to be a silver 2006 Aveo with auto:)
Welcome to the forum, seichin7! I'm hearing lots of stories lately of wildlife collisions. It's that time of year.
My aveo5 is an auto, still pulls strong at 191k also have 2004 Nissan xterra manual.
A timely article on a Canadian news site today:
The shift from manual: Why the demise of stick shift is accelerating - The Globe and MailQuote:
The percentage of cars that offer a manual transmission in Canada has fallen to just 9 per cent, down from 35 per cent in 1980, according to IHS Automotive. You can’t call a stick shift “standard” any more, when an automatic is usually the only option. Just 3.6 per cent of new car buyers in Canada so far this year opted to shift their own gears.
Not surprisingly, more entry level cars have a manual trans than the national average though. (As well as sporty cars and luxury sports cars.)
And the Canadian numbers are probably similar to the U.S. ones. Maybe a bit more manual use here because we tend to buy more subcompacts than Americans.
I suspect your Caravan had the 3.0L V6; because the 3.0L at the time was the Mitsubishi 6G72 V6 (in 12 Valve SOHC form, with a Chrysler Intake and Electronics) and the 3000GT has (You Guessed it!) the 6G72 V6 in both SOHC and DOHC form! I bet you had to use the Chrysler Engine Harness
Yep. Motor was junk, and so was Chryslers' accessories they strapped to it. Distributor was notorious for going bad, and at $400 just for parts, it sucked. My wife had one. Wanted to drive it off a bridge, but decided not to.
Current results: 17 votes
Automatic: 9
Manual: 8
I have to say that surprises me a bit! I would have thought the ratio on an owners forum would have tilted a bit more towards the manual.
I learned to drive on a 05 aveo stick shift and my first/current car is an 08 aveo automatic. At the time of purchase it never really bothered me what trans it had as long as it went from point A to B :P
But from my experience I would lean towards an automatic just because having a manual is somewhat of a chore it's one extra thing to pay attention to but maybe it's a generational thing. Would make sense to me to have one if I was hauling a load or lived in a mountainous state but ohio is pretty flat like a pancake.
Wow this is interesting, I thought it would be 2 to 1 manual vs auto. I happen to own 2 automatics, but only due to peer/partner pressure. I should point out I have 2 stick shift (non aveos), but nobody I hang around happens to know how to drive a stick. So after years of the hassle of being on trips, and me being the only one that could drive a stick, I gave in and went to automatics for my daily driver/trip car. So convenience won over good economy LOL. I personally prefer a manual any day, but it can be a hassle, as most people generally never learned to love a manual. - As if this is something that is difficult to learn LOL Im sure I am not the only one that taught myself how to drive a manual (on the fly during a test drive no less!) before I was old enough to get my license. Changing times?
Based on the various threads I've read here over the past few years, it feels like there have been roughly about the same number of manual and AT. But that's just an unscientific, gut feel on my part.
Our family has one of each - my manual '05 and my daughter's '06 AT, so no change to the poll from our votes.
Yep, and it's been a gradual but steady change for a long time. When I started driving 50 years ago, the manual tranny ruled the road. A/T had been around for a while, but they generally were only available on luxury autos, and cost fairly big $$. Back then, almost everyone I knew drove a manual.
But over the years the balance has tipped way over to Automatic. When we bought my wife's Kia 4 years ago, there were almost no manual trannys on the lot. Although my daily driver has always been manual, we generally buy A/T for my wife. And that's also usually the long trip vehicle, so I do drive A/T, and don't have a problem with doing that. And in spite of how much I like manual trannys, I have to admit that if someone has to drive a majority of stop-and-go (which I've never had to do), a manual would probably become mighty tedious in a short amount of time.
Although it's become much more solid over the years, it still bugs me that A/T can be affected by electrical issues, in addition to mechanical ones. As an example, a number of recent KIA/Hyundai models have a systemic tranny temp sensor failure (same bad sensor used in all). So if this sensor goes bad in our KIA, I'll have to drain the ATF, pull the valve body cover, replace that stupid sensor, reseal with RTV (no solid gasket available), and refill the ATF. Nothing wrong with the tranny, but lots of work just the same.
But with a manual, if the driver know how to shift and doesn't abuse them, they will generally last the life of the vehicle, as mine have. And no hairball electrical gremlins to mess it up, thank you very much! Well that's certainly been a useless rant, because there's no stopping the march of the A/T. Not too many years from now, a manual will probably need to be special ordered because dealers won't ever stock them on the lot.
No need for any polls once that happens :sad3:
I drive a manual and will only ever drive manual. All my cars have been manual, 1971 VW bug, 1974 VW bus, 1976 VW bus, 1969 VW baja bug, 1981 VW Vanagon, 1994 Subaru Impreza, and a 1996 Ford Bronco and soon to be a 1990's Suzuki Sidekick.
Mine has a manual, I selected it specifically for that reason. I've had much better luck with a manual in the snow.
I voted Manual since that's what I have. Usually buy Manual in a small car since I believe little engines with A/C. Auto./Power Accessories just get the life sucked out of the motor. I prefer two legged driving anyway, since my left leg needs more exercise. :)
Mine is an Auto, see "Garage" for the current and previous car.
As one gets older, creature comforts like Auto-Trans and Air-Con become more important in a hot climate.
I bought my '06 Aveo new - one of the big reasons is that I wanted a manual. I've got 120k miles on it right now, and it still runs great. I think manual works better on the smaller cars, so that you can get better control in the mountains. Aveos don't have that much power, I had to come over Vail Pass in 3rd gear last week on my way back from the west coast. And it's so much easier coming down the long descents in gear, rather than having to nurse the brakes.
Mine is manual. Here in Portugal, most of cars are manual. I think there wasn't automatic option when I bought the car.
Mine is automatic but I genuinely prefer a manual. Since I bought my car to from a family member to help them out I didn't get to choose.
Manual Aveo. I live in Croatia. Automatic isn't such an often thing in Europe.
^amoretto - Yes, transmission choice is a big difference between Europe & North America. Do you have to have a separate licence to drive manual, like the U.K.?
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Well, things have certainly changed in this poll. Manual has taken the lead:
34 votes total
- 14 automatics
- 20 manuals